Agents of fraudulent company seek justice with DC
- Published in Mangaluru
- Comments::DISQUS_COMMENTS
Vruksha Group Business Solutions India Ltd which had branches in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kasargod districts and head office at Utility Towers of K S Rao Road had closed down and the directors Venugopal (57), Jeevraj Puranik (55), resident of Sultan Battery and Roshan D'Souza (40) had gone absconding. A complaint was filed in this regard at Bunder Police Station. Following which two directors Jeevraj Puranik and Roshan D'Souza were arrested on September 27 while Venugopal was arrested on September 29.
One of the agents of the company, Lakshmi Nayak said, "An agent from Seethangoli had committed suicide recently after customers started asking the money back. We have collected lakhs of money from people who are now asking the money back, but we are unable to repay them as we ourselves have been duped by the firm."
"When we asked our company directors to compensate us, they have stated that they will not give the money back as we got them arrested. Even the police personnel and lawyers have invested in the company, she added.
The DC who was unable to provide any concrete solution stated that as there is no need for getting permit from Reserve Bank of India or any other financial institution people manage to start such schemes and dupe people."
"However we will take up awareness programmes in the district and also convene a meeting with the Police very soon. It is really shocking that educated people are the victims of such fraud companies," DC said.
Vraksha Group was started by Jeevraj Puranik, Roshan D'Souza and Venugopal, promising the customers of multiplying their investment within no time and over ten thousand agents were working for the firm, collecting money from the customers.
As per sources, the company had collected over Rs 80 crore in this manner before pulling down the shutters, leaving the agents and customers in dire straits. On persistent demand of the agents and the customers, the company returned Rs 37 lakhs in two instalments and as of now there are no traces of the proprietors of the company. The corporate office of the company at KS Rao Road has been closed since many days.
The company had branches in West Bengal and Kerala too and there is no clue about the situation of agents and customers in these two states. As per the agents, the company had promised to invest the money on building hypermarkets and they had claimed to have built one at KS Rao road. Currently the revenue officials have withheld further procedures and a FIR has also been registered at Bunder Police station.
The customers and agents of the firm had even threatened mass suicide. They also had staged a protest in front of the DC office on Sep 25 demanding the arrest.
